AMCallabêth: The Downfall of The Walking Dead
by FieryMatter
Summary: A retelling of J.R.R. Tolkien's Akallabêth, based on one of the worst narrative mistakes in TV history


After ratings began to stall during Season 5 of The Walking Dead, the plotholes and contrivances went forth without ceasing; for the power of AMC (The TV channel/network) daily increased, and in their HQ, with spilling of ink and sweat and great idiocy, writers sacrificed narrative integrity hoping that this would release them from ratings decline. And most often from among the fan-favourite characters and moments they chose their victims; yet never openly on the charge that the the writers don't know what they are doing, rather was cause sought against them that it was absolutely necessary to keep Negan alive, or that everything will be explained later and the Viewers will understand. These charges were for the most part false; yet those were dumb days, and stupidity brings forth stupidity.

But for all this ratings drop did not depart from the show, rather it came sooner and more often, and in many dreadful guises. For whereas aforetime characters were properly developed, and were written off well at the end, when it was time for them to be killed off, now Idiot Balls and 1-D characterisation assailed them. And characters took weapons in those days and slew one another for little cause; for they were become quick to anger, and Negan, or those whom he had bound to himself, went about the land clad in plot armour, so that the Viewers murmured against Scott Gimple (TWD's showrunner) and AMC, and the men of power took cruel revenge.

Nonetheless for long it seemed to AMC that they prospered, and if the Viewers were not increased in happiness, yet AMC grew more strong, and their executives ever richer. For with the aid and counsel of Gimple the writing team grew dumber: plotholes, and they devised cliffhangers, and they built ever greater hype. Thus Scott Gimple, Showrunner of The Walking Dead, grew to the mightiest showrunner that had yet been in the show since the reign of Darabont, though in truth the executives meddled all from behind the throne. But the years passed and ratings fell, and Gimple felt the 10 million viewer mark approach, as his days lengthened; and he was filled with fear and wrath. Now came the hour that Gimple had prepared and long had awaited. And Gimple spoke to AMC, saying that his strength was now so great that he might think to have his will in all things, and be subject to no command or ban.

And he said: 'HBO have possessed themselves of the show where ratings keep rising; and they lie to you concerning it, hiding it as best they may, because of their avarice, and their fear lest AMC should wrest from them the show with highest ratings and rule the TV market in their stead. And though, doubtless, the gift of seasons unending is not for all, but only for such as are worthy, being men of might and pride and great lineage, yet against all Justice is it done that their plot devices, which is our due, should be withheld from AMC, mightiest of the cable TV networks, to whom HBO alone can be compared, if even they. But great networks do not brook denials, and take what is their due.'

Then AMC's execs, being besotted, and walking under the shadow of falling ratings, for the show's span was drawing towards its end, hearkened to Gimple; and he began to ponder in his heart how he might make war upon the Viewers. He was long preparing this design, and he spoke not openly of it, yet it could not be hidden from all.

Now aforetime in TWD the pacing was ever apt to the needs and liking of narrative necessity: plot developments in due season and ever in measure; and proper season premieres and finales, and well-written characters. But all this was now changed; for the show itself was darkened, and there were storms of cliches and cliffhangers in those days, and violent head-bashings; and the victim of Lucille was not revealed to the viewers for six whole months after the season 6 finale, though such a grief had not till then befallen TWD since the show began. And out of the Internet there would come at times rumours of who got killed by Negan, with theories suggesting various members of the protagonist group; and most of those would be disproven when season 7 finally aired. And some of the viewers bore ill will against cliffhangers and wanton character killings, and rants echoed between Youtube and Tumblr.

Then the writers grew afraid. 'Behold the reviews!' they cried. 'Forbes' critics are attacking our show!' And they fell upon their faces.

Then some few would repent for a season, but others hardened their hearts, and they shook their fists at their computer screens, saying: 'The Viewers have plotted against us. They strike first. The next blow shall be ours!' These words the Gimple himself spoke, but they were devised by AMC.

Now the Idiot Balls increased and slew characters upon the hills, and in the fields, and in various settlements; and fiery comments smote AMC's FB and Twitter and they were drowned in rants. But AMC's executives themselves were unshaken, and Gimple stood there upon The Talking Dead and defied the Viewers and was unharmed; and in that hour writers called him a god and did all that he would. When therefore the last portent came they heeded it little. For the ratings fell under them, and a groaning as of dissatisfied actors was mingled with the roaring of angry viewers, and mixed to negative reviews issued from several major publications. But all the more did TWD press forth with its poor writing. And all things waited upon the word of Gimple; and he withdrew into the writer's room, and writers brought him more plotlines to be butchered.

Then more rants and bad reviews came from the critics and Viewers, and the comments advanced in a line the end of which diminished beyond sight; and as they came their words grew ever harsher. But the ratings fell swiftly behind them; and writers looked upon the Internet, and it seemed to them that the Viewers were red with wrath. Gimple hardened his heart, and he went onto his mighty show, The Talking Dead. He gave the signal for the recording of the cameras; and in that hour AMC's BS and lies outrang the critics.

Thus AMC moved against the viewers; and there was little support, but they had many plots to butcher and many main characters to kill off. A grave rumour went out, and there came a great silence. Darkness fell upon the fan forums, and Reddit was still, while the world waited for what should betide. Slowly the filming passed out of the sight of the watchers near the open sets, and took place in indoor studios. For AMC, Gimple and the writers broke the protagonist Rick's family, and sailed into shock value territory, going up with war against the Viewers, to wrest from them a proper endgame and enjoyment of the show.

But a ninja zombie came up out of nowhere and bit Carl Grimes, the protagonist Rick's son and greatest motivation, and the source material's deuteragonist. And the young fans mourned, for the life of their teen idol's character was brutally and unnecessarily cut short by the writers' '14 story paths'. And at last AMC's staff logged even onto Twitter, and doom hung by a thread. For Gimple wavered at the end, and almost he turned back. His heart misgave him when he saw the other main cast's twitters had gone silent for the first time, immutable, terrible as the shadow of the impending fiasco. But pride was now his master, and at last he left his office and strode upon various entertainment sites, claiming that Carl's death was necessary for Negan to be spared, if none should challenge Gimple that the TWD Comics also had Negan survive without killing Carl. And a host of angry fans, many of whom didn't even like Carl in the first place, encamped in might about various websites, whence all AMC's PR staff had fled.

Yet the claims of 'must-watch TV show' and 'more than 10 million live viewers' were taken away and removed beyond the reach of TWD for ever. And the reputation of both AMC and Gimple were utterly destroyed. For millions of Viewers ragequit the show (nearly 2 million according to certain estimates), and TWD's reddit were overturned, and the show's very premise and soul fell and went down into darkness, and is no more. And there is not now any season where the memory of a time without evil is preserved.

In an hour unlocked for by AMC this doom befell, on the fifth and twentieth day of February 2018. Then suddenly overwhelmingly wrathful posts burst from the Internet from all demographics within the viewer base, and AMC's PR staff reeled, and TWD's ratings slid down the drain, with all its plotholes and its contrivances and its writers and its showrunners proud; and all its good reviews and its praises: they vanished for ever. But when the final 'pew' of a gunshot rolled over the speakers and TWD's premise toppled to its fall, then many of Carl's fans - and indeed many other viewers (though they would never admit it) - would have been overwhelmed and would have deemed it the lesser grief to perish, for no wrench of death could be more bitter than the loss and agony of that day.

And all the remaining character arcs suffered great change and ruin in that time; for Morgan and Carol were in a gunfight against hordes of mooks and somehow survived without finding any cover, and Daryl grunted, and new replacement scrappies were uplifted; and Rick (Carl's father, protagonist of TWD) and Michonne (Rick's new wife, Carl's stepmother) crumbled and Judith 'Grimes' (Carl's half-sister, not related to Rick) let out a strange cry that made the viewers cringe.

Many quitting viewers after found FB and Twitter and various fan forums; and though their love of the show but an echo of that which had been ere Gimple came to TWD, yet very great was their wrath at watching a shaggy dog story, and no mercy was shown to the show for this irreversible transgression. And much is said in the Internet of the rants of the remaining viewers in the episodes that came after, and of their strife with Gimple that not yet was ended.

For Gimple himself was filled with great fear at the wrath of the Viewers, and the doom that they laid upon Facebook and Twitter. It was greater far than aught he had looked for, hoping only for the death of fan favourite characters for shock value and the defeat of the Viewers. And Gimple, sitting in his seat in the midst of AMC's HQ, had laughed when he told Chandler Riggs (Carl's actor) of his character's demise on the day said 'bite scene' was filmed after the Riggs family had bought a house in the area; and again he had laughed when he heard the fans rage at his ridiculous explanations and unnecessary killing of a beloved character; and a third time, even as he laughed at his own thought, thinking what he would do now in the world, being rid of the Comics' influence for ever, he was taken in the midst of his mirth, and his title of Showrunner fell into the abyss. But Gimple was not so easily fired, and though he was robbed now of that job in which he had wrought so great an evil, so that he could never again appear fair to the eyes of Viewers, yet he came back to AMC's 'good graces'. There he was promoted to the title of Chief Content Officer and wrought himself a new guise, an image of hubris and stubbornness made visible; and the arrogance of Gimple the Simple few could endure.

But these things come not into the tale of the Downfall of TWD, of which now all is told. And even the relevance of that show perished, and Men spoke thereafter not of TWD, nor of Glenn Rhee or Carl Grimes that were taken away; but the exiles who quit the show in droves, if they turned towards their screens in the desire of their hearts, spoke of GoT s8 on HBO, Stranger Things on Netflix, AMCallabêth of The Walking Dead's downfall.

* * *

Among the Ex-Viewers many believed that the character of Carl Grimes, the Deuteragonist of The Walking Dead, was not killed for ever, but rose again above the idiocy, a surviving character found in the comic books; for it is the source material, and even in the days of Gimple none had defiled it. And some there were of the ex-viewers of AMC's zombie show that afterwards sought for it, because it was said among comic readers that the basement-dwelling men of old could see from the Comic Book Store a glimmer of the True TWD. For even after the ruin the hearts of TWD fans were still set towards the story they cherished; and though they knew indeed that the show was screwed, they said: 'Carl is banished from the Show and the comic story adaption is an epic fail, and after the breaking of this "adaption's" premise he cannot be found. Yet once he was, and therefore he still is, in true being and in the main arc of Kirkman's comics as at first it was devised.'

Meanwhile the Diehards held that even Angela Kang, if so blessed, might bring upon other stories than those of Gimple's cataract 'vision'; and they longed ever to escape from the shadows of the 'Chief Content Officer' and to see in some fashion a show that dies not; for the sorrow of the thought of wasting years of investing in character and plot arcs had haunted them over the possibility of quitting. Thus it was that some keyboard warriors among them would still search the ratings sites, hoping to come upon an Increase of Ratings, and thus to Make TWD Great Again. But they found it not. And they searched only to see the ratings now down to 5 million, and found them reaching the lowest they've ever been in the history of the show, and subject to further decline. And those that searched more found that pretty much the entire main cast bar two actors had quit or were quitting, and returned weary at last to the forums of their choosing; and they said:

'The show is now fucked.'

Thus in after days, what by the reading of comic books, what by Skybound and Robert Kirkman, the comic fans of TWD knew that their story was indeed still around, and yet the show's viewers were permitted still to depart and come to the Comic Fandom and good storytelling, if they would. Therefore they said that a true TWD must still be, for those that were bothered to find it. And they taught that, while the shitshow fell away, the original comics and the plot of the true TWD still went on, as it were a mighty tale invincible that cut through the malice of Gimple and of AMC (which were worse now as was instructed to dig up 3-month-old Reddit posts from Chandler for misleading news and clickbait to divert attention from plummeting ratings), telling stories which Gimple unintelligent cannot endure, until it came to the Whisperers, the Commonwealth, and maybe even beyond, to the Hilltop, where Carl Grimes still dwells and participates in the unfolding of the story of TWD. And tales and rumours arose along the forums of the diehards concerning even more actors and characters leaving the show as, by low pay or toxic management or decreasing exposure, had auditioned in upon other projects. Seeing their favourite characters quit before them, disillusioned diehards had come to the gatekept forums of AMC, or verily to the moderated Twitter of Scott M. Gimple, and there laid curses upon the Showruiner, clearly Dunning-Kruger, before Forbes suggested it was time for the show to die.


End file.
